When an individual's goal is to eventually quit smoking, first switching from regular to light cigarettes turns out to be a poor way to get there. According to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the National Cancer Institute, smokers who are trying to quit and first switch to light cigarettes are much less likely to actually stop smoking than those who never switched to light cigarettes.

A team of researchers led by Hilary Tindle from the University of Pittsburgh examined patterns of smoking and attempted quit patterns in more than 30,000 smokers. In 2003 these smokers provided information to researchers about the use of light cigarettes, number of attempts to quit smoking, and successful quitting which was defined as having not smoked for 90 or more days.

According to data published online this month in the journal Tobacco Control, more than one in three individuals in the sample who smoked switched to light cigarettes. Individuals who switched reported that they switched because they preferred the taste and/or that they the believed that light cigarettes would cause less harm and would help with quitting.

Despite the common belief among switchers that light cigarettes would help with quitting, the data indicated that switching actually hindered an individuals success at quitting. Despite the fact that switchers were significantly more likely to try and quit compared to smokers who had not switched (51% compared to 41%), switchers were much less likely to actually quit compared to smokers who had never switched to light cigarettes. Less than one in ten switchers who attempted to quit were successful (9%). About one in five smokers who had not switched to light cigarettes were able to quit smoking (17%).

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